Jury awards $1.2M to Shrewsbury officer shot during house call

Friday

Feb 28, 2014 at 6:00 AM

By Gary V. Murray TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

WORCESTER— A Worcester Superior Court jury returned a $1.26 million verdict against former car dealer Mark P. Ragsdale today in the 2006 shooting of a Shrewsbury police officer who was responding to a burglar alarm at Mr. Ragsdale's home.

The 14-member jury deliberated for nearly 20 hours over four days before finding that Mr. Ragsdale was negligent when he shot Officer Stephen P. Rice in the abdomen during the early-morning hours of July 14, 2006, and that the negligence was a substantial contributing cause of the rookie officer's injuries.

The verdict of $1,262,500 included $850,000 for loss of earning capacity and $412,500 for pain and suffering. Interest will be added to the award at a rate of 12 percent per year from the date Mr. Rice's lawsuit was filed in 2009.

Mr. Ragsdale, the one-time president of Ragsdale Motor Group, declined to comment on the verdict, as did his lawyer, Gerard R. Laurence. Mr. Rice, who no longer works as a police officer, and his lawyer, Steven M. Ballin, also declined to comment.

Mr. Ragsdale was one of two defendants named in Mr. Rice's civil suit. The other was Affiliated Central Inc., which provided alarm monitoring services at Mr. Ragsdale's home at 17A Farmington Drive in Shrewsbury.

While the jurors found that Affiliated Central and Mr. Rice were both negligent in connection with the case, as well, they also determined that their negligence did not substantially contribute to the former officer's injuries. Affiliated Central's lawyer, Timothy J. Duggan, said he had no comment on the verdict.

According to court documents, Mr. Ragsdale returned home about 2:20 a.m. July 14, 2006, after a night of drinking, and apparently set off the burglar alarm in his home. An Affiliated Central employee got no answer after calling the home and then notified Shrewsbury police.

Officer Rice, then a 25-year-old rookie, and Officer Ryan Chartrand went to the Farmington Drive address and apparently set off the alarm a second time while checking the windows and doors of the residence. This time, Mr. Ragsdale answered the alarm monitoring company's call, identified himself and provided the correct security code.

Affiliated Central failed to notify Mr. Ragsdale that police had been dispatched to the home in response to the earlier alarm and failed to inform police that Mr. Ragsdale was at home and there was no burglary, according to court records.

A neighbor who had been given a key to the Ragsdale home told Officer Rice that the family was supposed to be away on vacation. While the neighbor said the silhouette of a figure that could be seen in a second-floor window appeared to be Mr. Ragsdale, Officer Rice believed the person resembled a potential suspect in recent burglaries in town.

The neighbor allowed the officers into the home and the entry tripped the alarm a third time. Hearing someone in the house, Mr. Ragsdale, who was licensed to carry a firearm, armed himself with a .380-caliber handgun. Mr. Ragsdale shot Officer Rice when he reached the darkened second-floor hallway.

While the former officer testified that he identified himself as a police officer immediately before being shot, Mr. Ragsdale disputed that in the pleadings in the case. The bullet entered the officer's abdomen, just below his bullet-proof vest.

He remained hospitalized for several days and was unable to work as a police officer for 14 months, according to his lawyers. Officer Rice returned to the force in 2007, but stopped working as a police officer in January 2011, after experiencing nightmares, anxiety and an inability to concentrate and being diagnosed with delayed onset post-traumatic stress disorder, according to court documents.

Judge Robert B. Gordon presided over the trial, which began Feb. 3.

In November 2006, a Worcester County grand jury was presented with evidence in connection with the shooting but did not indict Mr. Ragsdale. Mr. Ragsdale was never charged with a criminal offense in connection with the shooting.

Mr. Ragsdale had a class A large-capacity license to carry firearms, issued by Millbury police when he lived there. Millbury police suspended that license after the shooting. The license expired Aug. 4, 2006, and he had to file an application with the Shrewsbury police chief to receive a new one.

Shrewsbury Police Chief James J. Hester Jr. denied Mr. Ragsdale’s application for a new license to carry a firearm. Mr. Ragsdale appealed the decision in Westboro District Court but a judge upheld the decision. Mr. Ragsdale also filed a lawsuit in Worcester Superior Court to get a new gun license, but the case was dismissed.